Galvanizing apparatus.



No. 656,50I. Patented Aug. 2|, I900.

v E. l. BRADDOCK.

GALVANIZING APPARATUS.

(Application filed June 11, 1900.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

EDVARD I. BRADDOCK, OF WINCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T THE NEW PROCESS COATING COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

GALVANIZING APPARATUS. I

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 656,501, dated August 21, 1900.

Original application filed March 24, 1900, Serial Nix-9 988. 1 i 110. 19,831.

To all whom it may concern.- Beit known that I, EDVVABD I. BRADDQGK, a citizen of the United States, residing in Win-1 chester, in the county of Middlesex and State 5 of Massachusetts, have invented an Improve ment in Galvanizing Apparatus, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to an apparatus with which iron or steel strips, sheets, wires, &c., may be efiiciently and economically galvanized by the method disclosed in United States Patent No. 645,520, grantedto me March 13,

The object of this present invention is to provide apparatus with which the surface area of dross through which the iron or steel 2o trip is passed is restricted and the dross, substantially as fast as formed, is continuously removed during the process of galvanizing from the portion of the surface of contact of the zinc-bath with the lead-bath through 2 5 which the metal strip is passed. For this purpose I employa substantially-wide kettle or vat providedat one sidewith means, such as a partition-wall, to form a substantially narrow entrance-chamber for the sheets, 85c.

0 and a substantially-wide chamber, andprovide within the wide chamber, near the opposite side of the kettle, a substantially-narrow cut-off box, forming a substantially-narrow outlet passage-way for the sheets, &c., and

also provide the kettle intermediate of the narrow entrance-chamber and the cut-off box with means arranged to guide the sheets, 850., continuously or in one direction from the entrance-chamber, through the kettle, and'into 4c the narrow outlet passage-way.

In order to practice the process above referred to with this present apparatus, the wider chamberof the kettle contains a bath of zinc or its alloys resting on a bath of lead 5 or its alloys, which latter extends up into the entrance-chamber and also partially fills the narrow outlet passage-way,the remaining portion of said outlet passageway being filled by the zinc or its alloys floating above it on the lead-bath, so that as the portion of the gal- Divided and this application filed Tune 11, 1900. Serial (No model.) i

, vanizing-bath within said passage-way is used up in the process of galvanizing it is continumetalstrip, &c., is passed. The dross formed in the outlet passageway is removed by the passage of the metal strip, which creates a current or flow of metal and draws the small amount ofdross formed byeachmetal strip up out of the said passage-way and into the body of the galvanizing-bath outside of said passage-way, in which bath said dross settles and can accumulate without interference with or detriment to the galvanized strip, sheet, 850., and is prevented from flowing back into the passage-way by the walls'of the same, which elfectively cut off the zinc in the passage-way from the dross outside thereof. Figure l is a transverse section of an ap- 7 paratus embodying this invention; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1 on the line 2 2 looking toward the right, and Fig. 3 aplan of the cut-off box shown in Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, (t represents a kettle or vat provided at one side with means (shown as a partition-wall d) for separating the upper portion of the kettleainto asubstan tially-narrow entrance-chamber e and a substantially-wide chamber f, which contains within it, near the opposite side of the kettle, a substantially-narrow cut -0fi box, which may be formed separate from the kettle, as herein shown, and comprises side walls 2 3 0 and end walls 4 5. (See Fig. 3.) The cut-0H box forms a substantially-narrow outlet passage-way for the sheet, &c., and in practice the kettle or contains a bath g of lead or its alloys and a bath h of zinc or its alloys,which latter bath floats on the portion of the leadbath within the wider chamber f. The cutoff box is suitably supported Within the kettle ct, with its upper edge below the upper surface of the zinc or galvanizing bath and its lower edge below the surface of the lead-bath, and the said cut-off box may be supported, as herein shown, by means of suitable hangers 15 16, which latter are above the bottom also contain within it a second or upper set of guides 18, which, as shown, are attached at one end to the cut-01f box and have their other end resting against the partition-wall d. The lower set of guides prevents the sheet scraping 6n the bottom wall of the kettle and the upper set prevents the sheet floating in the lead out of the path of the outlet passage-way. With the apparatus herein shown the sheets, strips, &c., to be galvanized are passed down through the entrance-chamber e into the lead-bath, and continuing in the same direction pass through the narrow outlet passageway formed by the cut-off box and into and through the zinc-bath. The amount of dross formed in the narrow outlet passage-way by contact of the sheets, &c., with the zinc in said passage-way is removed by the passage of the metal strip, which creates a current or fiow of metal and draws the small amount of dross formed by each strip up out of the outlet passage-way and into the body of the galvanizing-bath outside of said passage-way, "in which the dross settles and accumulates, as indicated by 10, Figs. 1 and 2. The walls of the outlet passage-way effectively cut 0% the dress 10 and prevent it from flowing or running back into the outlet passage-way. It will thus be seen that the amount of dross formedin the outlet passage-wayis restricted in area and is by the action of the metal sheets, &c., continuously removed from between the surface of the zinc and lead at the place where the metal sheet passes from the lead-bath into the zinc, and as the dross accumulates outside of the cut-off box it automatically feeds the zinc into the outlet passage-way.

This application is a division of my application, Serial No. 9,983, filed March 24, 1900.

I claim' An apparatus for galvanizing strips, sheets, 850., comprising a substantially-wide kettle or vat, means within it at one side thereof to form a substantially-narrow entrance-chamber for the said sheets, dad, and a substantially-wide chamber, and a narrow 'cut-ofi bo'x closed at its sides and ends and open at its top and bottom and located within the Wider chamber near the opposite side of the kettle but below the upper edge thereof and at a substantially-wide distance from the said narrow entrance-chamber, and guides intermediate of the said entrance-chamber and cut-off box arranged to direct the metal-sheets, 

